An Old Gaelic Prayer

Alice, Lady Lovat wrote a biography of Bishop Aeneas Chisholm in 1927, and she relates that: 'Bishop Grant, when parish priest at Eskadale, took the following prayer, which he translated from Gaelic, from the mouth of John MacDonald, of Eskadale, who was then ninety-nine years of age, and who had learnt it eighty years before from Donald MacGruar, of Strathglass, who was then seventy years old.' Bishop Grant, at the age of 26, was ordained in 1733 and died in Aberdeen in the year 1778. So presumably this prayer is from the 17th century or before.

Hail to Thee

Hail to Thee, O Body of Christ;Hail to Thee, O King of Hosts; Hail to Thee, O Gracious Godhead;Hail to Thee, O true Manhood.As Thou wert pleased, O Christ, to comeUnder the cover of bread Thy whole Body,Heal my soul from every evil that is upon me now.Hail to Thee, Blood and Flesh;Hail to Thee, food of grace;Wash my sins in the Blood of Thy Grace.Hail to Thee, food of grace;Wash my sins in the Blood of Thy Grace.Hail to Thee, both God and man;Guard me from him that goeth about.May I receive Thee at the hour of death,O Trinity without end and without beginning,Neither let thy anger be upon me.Hail to Thee, true body born of Mary Virgin;By Thy being pierced, shedding waves of blood,Holy Trinity, grant us Thy SacramentsTo-day and at our death hour, and Amen.

Note

The source of this prayer is from Alice, Lady Lovat's biography of Bishop Chisholm of Aberdeen, 'A Highland Bishop', publ. 1927.